The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Buying & shooting cast bullets: Curse or blessing?

Rangefinder · August 19, 2013, 03:07 PM

If you really want to do it cheaply and correctly, think about casting your own. By the time you buy a couple thousand cast bullets, you could have bought a mold, a push-through sizer, and likely found a used melting pot. If you have to buy lead, it's not unheard of to get it for $1 a pound already in ingots. Once you have that, it's YOURS. Have bullets anytime you want.

Me, I get my lead in WW form from a local tire shop. The price is a 12-pack and a pizza once in a while. I shoot every handgun I own for about $0.04 a pop--there's the cheap-bullet part covered. Going beyond that, my cast bullets out perform factory hands-down. What's not to like? Leading?? Not if you're doing it right... I don't remember the last time I actually cleaned my .40S&W. I do it on purpose A) to see if it will EVER show any visible sign of leading beginning to form, and B) to be able to pull the barrel at any moment when someone makes the wild claim that shooting lead will make a mess of your barrel. It's now somewhere between 1800 and 2000 rounds of constant lead with nothing more than a little carbon. 1: FIT IS KING. 2:keep your pressure within your bullets alloy tolerances. 3:use the right lube for what you are doing.

Also, you aren't as limited as you might think where velocity is concerned. I have a plain-base 125gr. leaving the muzzle of my .357 upward of almost 1600fps. With a little tougher alloy, my AK is pushing lead out around 2000fps. Nothing to sneeze at--we're talking about a 160gr. bullet moving almost as fast as the mil-surp 123gr. You'd be amazed what can happen with lead if you work through it properly.

August 19, 2013, 03:07 PM	#38
Rangefinder Senior Member Join Date: August 4, 2005 Posts: 2,017	If you really want to do it cheaply and correctly, think about casting your own. By the time you buy a couple thousand cast bullets, you could have bought a mold, a push-through sizer, and likely found a used melting pot. If you have to buy lead, it's not unheard of to get it for $1 a pound already in ingots. Once you have that, it's YOURS. Have bullets anytime you want. Me, I get my lead in WW form from a local tire shop. The price is a 12-pack and a pizza once in a while. I shoot every handgun I own for about $0.04 a pop--there's the cheap-bullet part covered. Going beyond that, my cast bullets out perform factory hands-down. What's not to like? Leading?? Not if you're doing it right... I don't remember the last time I actually cleaned my .40S&W. I do it on purpose A) to see if it will EVER show any visible sign of leading beginning to form, and B) to be able to pull the barrel at any moment when someone makes the wild claim that shooting lead will make a mess of your barrel. It's now somewhere between 1800 and 2000 rounds of constant lead with nothing more than a little carbon. 1: FIT IS KING. 2:keep your pressure within your bullets alloy tolerances. 3:use the right lube for what you are doing. Also, you aren't as limited as you might think where velocity is concerned. I have a plain-base 125gr. leaving the muzzle of my .357 upward of almost 1600fps. With a little tougher alloy, my AK is pushing lead out around 2000fps. Nothing to sneeze at--we're talking about a 160gr. bullet moving almost as fast as the mil-surp 123gr. You'd be amazed what can happen with lead if you work through it properly. __________________ "Why is is called Common Sense when it seems so few actually possess it?" Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.